Laura Miles honoured with Student Partnership Impact Award for transformative mental health initiatives

A student whose initiatives have led to institution-wide changes has been awarded a Student Partnership Impact Award from the Staff and Educational Development Association (SEDA).

Laura Miles, a DClinPsy trainee at Bangor University, received the Award because of the significant impact she has had in Bangor University. Laura developed a student-staff partnership to improve support for mental health difficulties among trainee clinical psychologists. She established a peer support group that advocates for students, addressing the lack of space to discuss mental health issues. The student-staff group conducted a survey to understand experiences and implemented several initiatives, including changes in teaching practices and organisational processes to reduce stigma and enhance support.

The Award to Laura stated that, “Her efforts have led to institutional changes, including a sustainable peer-support space and continuous partnership work to support clinical trainees with mental health difficulties.”

In addition to the changes, Laura also developed a framework to foster a supportive and valuing culture as part of her thesis for her Clinical Psychology Doctorate which she hopes to see published in a peer-reviewed journal. She also hopes to share her findings at conferences and develop a training package for other clinical psychology programmes to follow, which the North Wales Clinical Psychology Programme has adopted and which may be adopted by others.

I feel very honoured and humbled to have won this Award and want to recognise the role of my fellow trainees and programme staff in making the progress we have. Moving towards a culture where we value the firsthand experience of mental health difficulties amongst clinical psychologists is a significant paradigm shift that will require ongoing bravery and commitment from the whole psychology community. I look forward to seeing what the next steps are and how future generations of trainee psychologists will build on the work that has happened at Bangor.

Beverley Pickard-Jones, lecturer, School of Psychology & Sport Science, said, “It was a pleasure to support Laura in applying for this Award. Laura’s accomplishments show what brilliant results can be achieved when staff and students work in partnership and how individuals can inform and lead changes.”

Professor Michaela Swales, Programme Director of the North Wales Clinical Psychology programme added, “We are thrilled that Laura’s work on the programme has been recognised. We are immensely proud of Laura who has been dedicated throughout her time on the programme to ensuring that the voice of those with lived and live experience of mental health difficulties is heard, understood, and more importantly utilised to improve the quality of all aspects of clinical psychology training. We look forward to continuing to work with Laura to further develop and embed the work that she has completed on the programme.”

Laura will complete her studies at the end of September and will join the Community Complex Conditions service as a qualified clinical psychologist in October.